Gyrinus, Geoffroy, 1762

The genus Gyrinus has been variously attributed to several authors by different workers. Aubé (1836, 1838), Regimbart (1883), Ahlworth (1910), Hatch (1927), Ochs (1928), Blackwelder (1944–1957) and Roughley (2001) all attributed it to Geoffroy (1762). Dejean (1833), Le Conte (1863), Ochs (1949) and Brinck (1955) attributed it to Linnaeus (1767). Laporte (1910) suggested Fabricius as the author (without a date), and Balfour-Browne (1945) and Oygur & Wolf (1991) proposed Müller (1764). Geoffroy (1762) fully described the genus, but, as others have pointed out, Geoffroy did not consistently employ binominal nomenclature, a requirement for nomenclatural availability (Article 11.4 of the Code). Müller (1764) was next to provide a description of Gyrinus, and Oygur & Wolf (1991), following the opinions expressed by Silverberg (1978), suggested that he is the author based on Opinion 228 (Anonymous 1954), since he named genera along with diagnoses

The Commission (Anonymous 1994, Opinion 1754) used its plenary powers to declare the generic nomina introduced by Geoffroy (1762) available and removed Geoffroy’s (1762) work from the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Works in Zoological Nomenclature, instead placing it on the Official List of Works Approved as Available for Zoological Nomenclature, with the type species Dytiscus natator Linnaeus, 1758, making Geoffroy (1762) the correct author of Gyrinus.